


Presence

by thankyouturtle



Category: Chalet School - Elinor M. Brent-Dyer
Genre: Boarding School, F/F, Femslash
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-07-16
Updated: 2011-07-16
Packaged: 2017-10-21 11:25:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 940
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/224657
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thankyouturtle/pseuds/thankyouturtle
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Margot's been struggling with more than just jealousy.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Presence

Ted Grantley - _not_ Theodora - was sitting alone in the Prefects' Room, chewing absentmindedly on the end of her pencil. The homework Miss Wilson had set her class was apparently impossible to do, but she was well aware that she'd be in for a large dose of that lady's famed sarcasm if she didn't at least attempt to answer the questions she had been set. Still, she'd been sitting here for almost half an hour now, and was no closer to having answered anything. Worse, she was well aware that her friends were using _their_ free time on the tennis courts.

So when the door swung open, instead of being irritated at the interruption, Ted looked up from her work quite happy to be distracted. It was Margot Maynard, looking as though she'd run her fingers through her short red-gold hair a few too many times. Ted shot her a small smile, and said, "Only me in here, I'm afraid."

"Actually - it was you I wanted to talk to," Margot replied. Ted raised her eyebrows. Besides both being prefects, she and Margot were part of the same group of friends - but past events had meant that neither of them had ever sought out the other's company particularly. It was also unlike Margot not to seize upon any opportunity to be outside practicing.

"What's up?" Ted asked, in slangy tones that would have delighted any Middles, had they heard. Margot hesitated, then slid herself up onto the large wooden table - also _in flagrante_ of the school rules - so that she was facing the other girl.

"Don't laugh," she began, sounding unusually earnest. Ted nodded - she knew better than to laugh at Margot anyway. "I've been thinking about that lecture of Auntie- of the Abbess' last week."

Ted cast her mind back. Lately her head had been so full of entrance exams there had barely been room for anything else, but she thought she remembered the one Margot meant. "The one about truth?" she hazarded.

"Not just truth," Margot corrected her. "About how, in order to be truthful with others, we first have to admit the truth to ourselves - and I was thinking," she added, before Ted could reply, "about your first term here."

Ted frowned. None of them had ever mentioned the events of that term before. They hadn't been forbidden from doing so, not explicitly, but it had never seemed like there had been any reason for doing so, not when the Trips had all been making such efforts to overcome their faults - and not when Ted herself was trying to put as much distance as possible between her past and her present. She certainly couldn't see any reason for Margot to bring it up now. "You know that we all forgave-" she began, but Margot shook her head.

"No - I mean, I know. It's not that. It's about - it's about admitting to the truth. To myself, and to..." To Ted's surprise, the Margot's cheeks tinged pink. "I've always thought - everyone thought, really - that I was jealous of you, because you were Len's new special friend. It made sense - I was used to Len putting me first, and when she wasn't... Well, like I said, it just made sense to think that was why I suddenly felt so, so _twisted_ inside." Margot swallowed, and went on. "But for a little while now I've been feeling like that wasn't really the issue at all, that it was just easier to _think_ that was the problem."

She stopped talking, and Ted's mind raced. Margot had obviously taken the Abbess' talk to heart - but what, exactly, was Margot's truth, and what did it have to do with Ted? Margot was nervous, that much was obvious, and so Ted kept her mouth shut, willing to wait until the other girl was ready.

"The truth was," Margot finally said. "Or - is. The truth is, that I wasn't jealous that Len was friends with you. I was jealous that - that you weren't friends with me."

Ted's mouth dropped open in surprise. She hadn't known what she was going to hear, but she could never have guessed this - that Margot, pretty, proud, popular Margot, had wanted to be friends with her. "Are you sure?" she asked doubtfully. Margot's cheeks grew even redder.

"You probably don't even realise," she said, "but there's something about you - a sort of presence, that pulls you in. I mean - I saw it happening to Len and Ros, but I had Emmy, and I didn't see that it was happening to me too." Despite her hesitating speech and blushing face, the look Margot was giving Ted was defiance itself.

For Ted's part, the shock she'd felt was receding. She knew - she had always known - that other girls were drawn to her, and would willingly follow her lead. It had been a relief to befriend Len, who had her own powers of attraction and leadership that meant that Ted could take a back seat, and worry about her own deeds rather than those of her followers. It wasn't that hard, really, to accept that what Margot was saying really was the truth.

"Thank you," Ted said carefully, "for telling me this."

"That's not quite everything," Margot replied in a small voice.

"Then what-"

In one smooth movement, Margot slid back off the table, leaned in towards Ted and - before she had time to react - pressed her lips gently against the other girl's. Ted felt her body stiffen, unsure how to deal with the unfamiliar warm softness. Then, abruptly, Margot stood back up, turned, and fled - and Ted was once more left alone in the room.


End file.
